With fewer than 100 deaths and around 7,000 cases of coronavirus in Australia, the standing of its prime minister, Scott Morrison, has gone from 'zero to hero' in just a matter of weeks.

Morrison became leader of the Liberal Party and head of a minority government in August 2018. He was then returned as prime minister after a general election in May 2019.

His party gained several seats and, having gone into the election as a minority government, it emerged with a small majority.

However, the following month saw the start of the annual bushfire season in Australia and it was a particularly bad season.

It peaked during October to December and the fires burnt 72,000 square miles, destroying almost 6,000 buildings and killing at least 34 people.

The Australian fire service was stretched to the limit as it fought the bushfires and some major cities were blanketed in smoke.

There has been a lot of debate about why the fires were so severe during this season, especially around climate change and the management of the countryside and prime minister Morrison came in for particular criticism over his handling of the fires.

He was heckled when he visited some of the fire-damaged towns and some people refused to shake his hand.

The deluge of criticism continued through into January and February this year, but all that changed as the bushfires were extinguished and media attention and public concern turned to coronavirus.

In fact, Scott Morrison went from 'zero to hero' in just a matter of weeks. Today, one year after his re-election last May, his standing in Australia is soaring, people are singing his praises and some of his most vitriolic critics have apologised.

He had a shaky start in addressing the pandemic and the Ruby Princess cruise ship debacle was a particular problem, as was the initial tension between the state governments and the federal government.

However, Morrison took hold of the situation and has relied heavily on the advice of the chief medical officer, Dr Brendan Murphy.

Morrison listened to Murphy and took the decision that Australia should shut its borders to China at a time when the World Health Organisation was saying that travel bans weren't needed.

He realised that the WHO is not the fount of all medical knowledge and that its 'world' status does not confer infallibility. Shutting its borders made sense.

As regards local infections, he acted quickly and, when the number of cases reached 1,000, bars were shut and larger social gatherings banned. He didn't drag his feet.

Australia is a federation and, at the start, there were some differences of opinion between the federal government and the state governments.

Morrison addressed that and, as head of the federal government, he established an emergency cabinet with the eight state and territory leaders.

This ensured a unified message from all tiers of government and has largely prevented the sort of political opportunism and posturing we have seen from some regional politicians in the UK.

Morrison was also willing to learn lessons and was not afraid to make a U-turn when it was necessary.

Some reporters love political U-turns, because they enable them to ask the inevitable, "Were you wrong?"

As a result, most politicians try to avoid ever making a U-turn, or even admitting it when they have done so.

But none of us are infallible and a U-turn can be a sign of strength as well as demonstrating a capacity to learn.

Controlling coronavirus in the way that Australia has done is remarkable. With a population of 25 million it has kept the death toll under 100.

Yes, much of Australia has a sparse population and that helps. But Sydney and Melbourne both have populations around five million. It is also true that Australia is an island, but then so, too, is Great Britain.

One interesting difference is that Australians view personal space differently: they naturally keep a greater distance between one another when talking.

But there's no denying that Australia has done well. So, can we in the United Kingdom learn something from our Commonwealth friends and especially from a politician who has gone from 'zero to hero' in such a short time?